Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia said Democrats should investigate President Donald Trump and his administration if they win back the House, pushing back against warnings that pursuing Trump after the midterms could distract from voters' economic concerns.
“Donald Trump is a crook. And he's got to go,” Warnock said Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press. “And the people who are enabling him, they all have to be held accountable.”
Warnock stopped short of explicitly saying Democrats should impeach Trump for a third time when moderator Kristen Welker asked him directly about the prospect. Instead, he called for investigations while arguing that Democrats could simultaneously address affordability.
“We ought to have the investigations to get to the truth behind the most corrupt administration in American history,” Warnock said. “At the same time, we have to walk and chew gum at the same time.”
That leaves Warnock short of endorsing another impeachment. He explicitly backed investigations and accountability but did not say Democrats should impeach Trump when asked directly, or when subsequently asked whether impeachment could backfire.
The remarks put Warnock at odds with the approach advocated a day earlier by former Senator Joe Manchin, who said an investigations-first agenda could hurt Democrats politically and contribute to a Republican victory in 2028. Manchin said Democrats should make lowering living costs their priority if they gain power in November.
“If they start with investigations, Michael, it’s over,” Manchin told CNN host Michael Smerconish on Saturday. “They’re going to tee up everything in 2028 for a Republican takeover completely.”
Newsweek reached out to the White House and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries' office for comment on Sunday.
White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis responded by accusing Democrats of having “no agenda to improve the lives of Americans” and seeking instead to continue what she called their “decade long witch hunt against President Trump.”
“This administration and commonsense Republicans will continue to secure our borders, restore law and order, putting more money back into the pockets of hard-working Americans, and deliver wins for the American people,” Bis said.
Raphael Warnock Backs Trump Investigations and Affordability Push
Warnock's argument differs from Manchin's in a crucial respect: he rejected the premise that Democrats have to choose between investigating Trump and addressing voters' economic concerns.
“We have to end this war, stop the tariffs, fix healthcare, and then lay out for the American people a vision that embraces all of us,” he said Sunday.
Welker then asked Warnock whether impeachment could backfire on Democrats, pointing to concerns among some members of his party.
Warnock again did not explicitly say whether he favored impeachment. Instead, he argued that the administration's policies and what he described as corruption were themselves connected to Americans' financial difficulties.
“The American people are watching themselves get poorer and poorer while Donald Trump, his family, his friends, are getting richer and richer,” Warnock said.
He added: “I can't think of a time in my lifetime when you could draw such a straight line between the policies in the White House and the economic pain that people are feeling in their houses.”
“And so we have to deal with the costs and we have to deal with the corruption and the American people deserve no less,” he said.
That puts Warnock in a more nuanced position than simply endorsing another impeachment. He explicitly supports investigations, says Trump and those who enable him should be held accountable, but did not endorse impeachment when asked whether Democrats should pursue it or whether it could backfire.
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Democrats Split Over Trump Investigations After Midterms
Manchin's criticism was broader than the warnings from Democrats focused primarily on the political risks of another impeachment. He warned that congressional probes could themselves become a distraction if Democrats fail to keep their attention on voters' living costs.
“If they can do that, they’re fine,” Manchin said of Democrats pursuing policies aimed at lowering living costs. “If they can’t, and they’re just consumed with retaliation and retribution, which is what we’ve been seeing for the last two years, that’s not what the American people want or need right now.”
Other Democrats have instead drawn a line between congressional investigations and impeachment.
Former Obama White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel said on NBC News' Meet the Press on October 4 that Democrats should not impeach Trump if they regain the House.
“It’s not going anywhere, and it’s going to be a food fight,” Emanuel said. He argued instead for using investigations into alleged corruption as a basis for ethics legislation.
Former Democratic Representative Joe Cunningham of South Carolina previously told Newsweek that impeachment could “consume the oxygen in Washington and overshadow virtually everything else” Democrats try to accomplish.
“The Democratic Party needs to be known for what it is fighting for, not simply what it is fighting against,” Cunningham said.
The same fault line is visible among Democrats seeking Senate seats in November. Sherrod Brown in Ohio has rejected another Trump impeachment, as have Iowa candidate Josh Turek and Kansas candidate Adam Hamilton. On the other side, Michigan's Abdul El-Sayed has pointed to what he considers several potential grounds for impeachment, and Minnesota Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan has said impeachment is “absolutely on the table.”
Hakeem Jeffries Leaves Door Open to Trump Impeachment
House Democratic leadership has taken a different approach, declining to make a commitment on impeachment while saying any decision should follow a fact-finding process.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has said Democrats have “neither ruled anything in” nor “ruled anything out,” adding that they would investigate potential wrongdoing, “follow the facts, apply the law, be guided by the Constitution” and “let the chips fall where they may.”
That emphasis on investigation came into sharper focus in September, when Jeffries, House Minority Whip Katherine Clark and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar responded to an impeachment resolution brought by Democratic Representative Al Green of Texas.
“Impeachment is a sacred constitutional vehicle designed to hold a corrupt executive accountable for abuse of power, breaking the law and violating the public trust,” they said in a joint statement.
But impeachment “traditionally requires a comprehensive investigative process,” they said, arguing that such a process had not taken place.
Another Democrat, Tennessee Representative Steve Cohen, later filed 26 articles of impeachment. His resolution includes allegations concerning the Trump administration's actions on immigration, Iran, tariffs, federal spending and pardons, as well as allegations that Trump has personally profited from the presidency. Cohen has acknowledged that the Republican-controlled Congress is unlikely to advance the effort.
Could Donald Trump Face a Third Impeachment?
Control of the House is central to whether a new impeachment effort could advance.
A simple House majority is enough to impeach a president, but actually removing Trump would require a two-thirds majority of senators present at a subsequent trial, a threshold that would almost certainly require Republican votes.
Trump himself has recently addressed the possibility. Asked outside the White House on October 2 what another impeachment would mean for him, he replied: “Well, I don’t know, but I’m getting good at it.”
Trump already went through the process twice during his first term. His 2019 impeachment involved abuse-of-power and obstruction-of-Congress charges stemming from his dealings with Ukraine. The House impeached him again in January 2021 for incitement of insurrection after the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Neither case resulted in a Senate conviction.
Polling suggests there is nevertheless substantial public support for another impeachment. In an April 10-14 Strength in Numbers/Verasight survey, 55 percent backed House impeachment of Trump. Thirty-seven percent were opposed and 8 percent answered that they did not know.
Raphael Warnock Says Democratic Path to Majority Runs Through South
Warnock used Sunday's interview to argue that Democrats should broaden their electoral ambitions as well as prepare for what they would do with congressional power.
“The road to a Democratic majority in both houses of Congress is in the South,” Warnock told Welker.
He pointed to his campaigning in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Mississippi and said states across the region could play an outsized role in determining congressional control.
“I worry, to be very honest, that Democrats are missing a real opportunity to invest in a serious and sustained way in the South,” he said.
Warnock argued that Democrats could replicate political gains made in Georgia elsewhere in the region if they “lean in and stay in” through and beyond the election.
Welker also asked Warnock whether he would rule out running for president in 2028 after fellow Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff said he had “zero interest” in doing so.
Warnock did not rule it out, instead saying: “Be very clear, I am sharply focused on the midterm elections. This is a deeply consequential election.”
“We've got to put some guard rails on this president,” he added.